Video games: A $25 billion industry

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Phuong Tran borrows a prop gun as she poses for a photo with the character Will from Capcom's video game 'Dark Void' during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles, June 3, 2009. Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Promotional artwork for 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,' created by Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim won many 'game of the year' awards in 2011. Bethesda Game Studios/Handout

A visitor wearing 3D glasses plays a Playstation game at an exhibition stand during Gamescom 2011 in Cologne, Germany, Aug. 17, 2011. Gamescom is Europe's largest video games trade fair. Ina Fassbender/Reuters

Robyn Stine, of Northampton, Pa., waits in line to be among the first to purchase 'The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword' for the Wii console at Nintendo World in New York on Nov.19, 2011. Anders Krusberg/AP Images for Nintendo of America

Anthony Le rides an escalator in his homemade 'War Machine' costume outside E3 Expo, the premier North American trade show for the video game industry, on June 14, 2010, in Los Angeles. Although he doesn't have a pass to the industry-only show, the fan drove 20 hours from Colorado to 'be here in the spirit of video games.' Adam Lau/AP

Heisman Trophy-winner and former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III poses for a photo on the Baylor campus on Feb. 27, 2012, in Waco, Texas, for the EA Sports NCAA Football 13 video game to be released in July. Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune Herald/AP

Antonio Vincentelli Solanilla wears a suit with LED connectors to help capture motion for use in video games at the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, WPI, in Massachusetts on Feb. 14, 2012. Calvin Yoon (c) and Nick Konstantino (r.) work with him in the lab. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Professor Brian Deans Rowe demonstrates how to model a hand in his 3D modeling class on Feb. 14, 2012, part of the interactive media and game development department at WPI. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

A students works on her project in 3D modeling at WPI on Feb. 14, 2012. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Matt Killmon, a video producer at Bethesda Game Studios, works on videos for Skyrim's new creation kit in Rockville, Md., on Feb. 7, 2012. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Video game designers – from left: Ashley Cheng, production director; Bruce Nesmith, director of design; and Matt Carafano, lead artist – stand in a hallway beside images from their games at Bethesda Game Studios in Rockville, Md., on Feb. 7, 2012. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Matt Fries, a freshman at American University in Washington, is an avid video game player. He usually plays a few hours a day. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Matt Fries often rides his bicycle on a stationary stand in his dorm room while playing video games so he gets a workout at the same time. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Producer Daniel Chen (l.) and Operations Manager Eiren Chong work at Just Cause Productions, Inc., in Marina del Rey, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2009. The company works in film and video game motion capture with offices both in Los Angeles and in Tokyo. Ann Hermes/Staff

Men play video games at a guest house in the city of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, on March 10, 2012. The Middle East has one of the fastest-growing communities of online gamers in the world. Reuters

Boys play Sony Playstation Portables (PSPs) at an electronic shop in Tokyo on May 7, 2011. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Jamal Stevens, 7, plays a video game at his grandparent's home in Charlotte, N.C., on March 4, 2012, a day after he was snatched from his bed and thrown 350 feet after a tornado ripped through his family's home. Stevens suffered only minor injuries from a twister that demolished his family's two-story home. Chris Keane/Reuters

Iraq War veteran Bryan Kidd holds a Wii controller during a therapy session at the Washington DC VA Medical Center. He works with video games to help overcome the effects of a war-related trauma. This is one facet of the growing field of 'serious video games' – using games for such things as education, training, and therapy. Michael Thaul Lehrman

Sony will release its next console – the PlayStation 4, code-named 'Orbis' – in 2013, according to a new report.

ByMatthew ShaerMarch 29, 2012

Reuters

Sony is refusing to comment, but according to one new report, a successor to the PlayStation 3 is already in the works, and on target for a late 2013 launch. Citing anonymous sources familiar with the new console, the gaming blog Kotaku has published a preliminary run-down on the PlayStation 4, which has allegedly been slapped with the codename of Orbis.